Be Careful
Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 (English)
Most of us can relate to having a parent’s anxiety or remembering a parent’s anxiety when we either allowed our children a bit of independence or when we were ourselves allowed the opportunity to do something autonomous. I can well remember hearing my mother’s admonition to “Be careful!” as I was hitting the road to go back to college or heading out for a social event on the weekend. To this day, she still quietly urges Wailam and me to be careful as we leave.
When I was young, I always thought it was a silly thing to say. I often wondered how I was supposed to be any more careful than I already was. Was she insulting my driving? Was she accusing me of being so naïve that I wouldn’t see danger as it approached me? Was it wishful thinking on her part? Did she think I was careless?
As I began to earn more gray hair, wrinkles, and experience, I adapted my mother’s admonition to a friendly, “Take care!” I often end phone calls with this phrase and, though it probably mystifies my friends and loved ones in the same way my mother’s concern mystified me, I think I’ve figured it out. Mom knew that very real danger is always out there and she wanted me to know that she really cared. She was reminding me to be aware of potential danger, but not trying to shelter me such that I couldn’t live my own life. In the same way, I say, “Take care!” to my friends and loved ones to let them know that I know they’re going to face dangers and challenges where I can’t help them, but I want them to know that I care.
In the much neglected book of Ecclesiastes, a wise man delivers a similar warning. And, naturally, since God seems to be working me over with texts that are neglected and talk about unpleasant subjects like death, disaster, and depression, I am studying a lot of texts that don’t seem very edifying—at least, at first glance. Of course, they always end up having some sort of edge to them that makes me glad God brought me to them. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired them and preserved them.
To emulate the late Rod Serling and his clever openings to The Twilight Zone television series: “Society is filled with fools and traitors, the omnipresent temptation to decadence and self-indulgence, a footpath with a myriad of false turns and dead ends. Case in point, a Hebrew wise man who calls himself Qoheleth, a leader who calls people to assemble together for the dissemination of practical wisdom, clever philosophy, and difficult questions. It is wisdom as old as Solomon. Yet, even this font of wisdom must act with caution in The Insight Zone.”
Okay, I know you think old Doc Johnny has gone overboard with this introduction, but I think you’ll agree it’s appropriate as we consider Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 (the verses are actually Ecclesiastes 4:17-5:6 in the Hebrew). (Read it)
1) Watch your feet (carefully) when you go to the house of God.
Coming near to listen (is better) than giving the sacrifice of fools
BECAUSE they don’t know they are doing evil.
2) Don’t be presumptuous with your mouth
and don’t be impetuous with your will (lit. heart)
to publish (deliver) a word (or deed) before God’s presence
BECAUSE God is in the heavens and you are upon the earth,
THEREFORE let your words be few.
3) BECAUSE the dream comes with great vexation
and the sound (or voice) of a fool with many words.
4) When you vow a vow to God, don’t delay in paying it
BECAUSE He takes no pleasure in fools.
Give what you vowed to pay.
It is better not to vow rather than you cause yourself to vow
and don’t pay.
5) Do not give your mouth (the chance) to cause your flesh to sin
and do not say in the presence of the messenger,
“BECAUSE it was a mistake.”
6) Why, then, should God be angry at your voice
and destroy the work of your hands,
7) BECAUSE when dreams multiply,
then empty words grow great
THAT you fear God.
Let’s pray. [Precious God, our Father, we are so thankful that the New Testament opens us up to stand in Your presence with confidence rather than being afraid You’re going to slap us down. We thank You that the complete Word you have given us, in both Jesus and in written form, assures us that You want the best for us and that we can never go wrong by responding obediently to You. Yet, we confess that we don’t always respond obediently to You. Sometimes, we rebel. Sometimes, we act presumptuously in both worship and service without getting direction from You. Sometimes, we are careless with the precious gifts You have given us. May we avoid that today as we strive to hear Your voice. In the name of Jesus, Your most complete revelation, we pray. AMEN.]
We may not like what this text implies, but the danger is very real—even in the New Testament church. The wise man tells us to “Be careful” as my mother would phrase it or “Take care” as I have adapted my personal legacy of maternal wisdom. Normally, we wouldn’t think it would be necessary to “Take care” as we prepare to worship or join together to fellowship or serve, but this text tells us that it is necessary to do so.
The truth is that the temple this wise man knew and the church that we know can be a dangerous place. It can be a place where those we care about hurt us deeply and where those we trust can betray us. It can be a place where well-intentioned people pass along misunderstandings and prejudices as Truth in such a way that they inadvertently damage lives and stunt spiritual growth. Worse, it can be a place were ill-intentioned people pass along platitudes and heresy as Truth such that they allow lives to be damaged and believers to be cheated out of spiritual blessing.
Not all the priests and prophets of Qoheleth’s time presented God’s message all the time, even as not all elders, deacons, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and professors of our era are always on target. But the wisdom tradition that is preserved in our Bible has a word for those who are “off-target” when presenting God’s Word. They are called “fools.” A “fool” is someone who resists the authority and direction of God, even if they don’t realize they are doing so but especially if they do know they are doing so. A “fool” is more wrong-headed in opposing God’s teaching than Don Quixote was in tilting at windmills.
So why are we admonished by this text to “guard our feet” or “watch our steps?” I believe that just as the wise man was aware of excessive (and careless) sacrifices (v. 1), our modern churches are guilty of excessive (and careless) activity. “Worship” services that are all presentation with little or no contemplation, church calendars and business administration that are based on what we’ve always done and how we’ve always done it rather than what God wants us to do and how God wants us to do it, and so-called Bible Studies that are more concerned with feelings and popular applications than with what the Bible actually says are all reasons we need to watch our steps and guard our feet.
Where worship, service, and discipleship are performed carelessly instead of prayerfully and as actions of convenience rather than conscientious acts of dedication, we run the risk of transforming the church into a mere social club or civic group. And for God’s people, charged with the spreading of the gospel, that’s not enough. And the wise man who wrote Ecclesiastes doesn’t accept a state of foolish sacrifices as acceptable. His admonition suggests that God’s people can avoid this is if they “Take care!”
In my car, I take care by adjusting my mirrors, fastening my seat belt, and keeping my eyes on the road. In the church, we take care by keeping our eyes on the Lord. But the passage doesn’t stop with this gentle admonition to “Take care!” The wise man warns us against presumption, the kind of presumption that is as rampant in modern society as it was in the inspired author’s day.
There is always the temptation (verse 2) to over-promise and under-perform. And the danger of over-promising is double-edged. First of all, it presumes that we know what God knows. The wise man tells us that only God has the entire picture, only God has the full eternal perspective. Only God knows what resources we’re going to have in the future and in what circumstances we will find ourselves. Did you ever agree to do something and then, have your responsibilities and hours change at your work? Did you ever make a pledge to give a certain amount to the church and lose your job? The wise man tells us to be careful how we commit and how we pledge because we don’t have the entire picture.
I mentioned a second reason, suggested in verse 5. When we commit to something, agree to something, or pledge something, we are “on the record.” In fact, we’re probably “on the record” when we should be “in the closet.” Verse 4 of this passage tells us that it’s better not to make a pledge at all than to break it. It doesn’t specifically state that when we break that pledge, we break relationships. If we promise God something and don’t deliver it, we’re going to be hesitant to come into God’s presence. If we promise the church something and don’t deliver it, we may not even want to come to church. We don’t want to say, in the words of verse 5, that it was a mistake.
My father once told me an anecdote, probably just a joke with a point, but it makes the point well. In this story, an old rancher promised to sell his first spring calf and give the proceeds to the church. When the calf was born, it was either of such potential prize quality that he couldn’t part with it or his circumstances had changed and he didn’t feel like he could afford to sell it on behalf of the church. So, he didn’t sell it and, because he couldn’t face his fellow believers, he quit going to church. In the story, he finally tried to come back to church during a revival, but as he drove his wagon into the churchyard that evening, the congregation was loudly singing the chorus of “Joy Unspeakable” (where heaven has “Joy Unspeakable and full of glory and the half has never yet been told”). Instead of hearing the chorus as it was being sung, however, his guilty conscience corrupted it to “the calf has never yet been sold.” When we vow and fail to fulfill them, our relationship with God and each other is broken because we are so burdened by “the calf” that “has never yet been sold.” Don’t let your relationships be broken by hasty, even if well-intentioned, words. “Take care!”
Of course, if you’re alert (“taking care?”), you’ve noticed that I both skipped blithely over verse 3 and that my translation doesn’t read like the King James Version (at least, at first glance). The idea, picking up from the KJV, seems to be that when you are very busy, your busy-ness impacts you even in your dream life. That’s pretty sophisticated thought for more than two millennia before Jung’s groundbreaking work on the subconscious and unconscious. It sure fits my experience of studying so hard for my doctoral preliminary examinations that I took them in my dreams on the night before I took them in reality. I even anticipated some of the questions in my dreams.
I translated that idea of “much business” as “vexation” because I wanted to convey the idea that what you’re preoccupied with is going to haunt you—even in your dreams, just as the words of a “fool” are going to haunt him/her in his/her lifestyle. Let’s be careful what we say, even in worship and service, lest it disrupt both our thought life and our reputation, lest it enslave us to our own presumption rather than endear us to God in a relationship of faith. “Be careful” where your focus is. “Take care” where your priorities are placed.
I can’t resist pointing out that this idea of “much business” or “vexation” plays right into what I was saying earlier in this message. Remember that activity and feelings aren’t the defining factors in authentic worship, obedient responses to God are the metrics by which we should measure that authentic worship. Mere activity can lead to carelessness and thoughtless ritual. Again, let’s “take care” how we worship.
And then, we come to the troubling part of this passage. In verse 6’s depiction of God destroying the works of our hands, it seems like the wise man is depicting a very different god than the God we know, love and trust. It seems like it speaks of a god who enjoys destroying human accomplishment and reputation much as sadistic young boys enjoy torturing bugs by burning them with the lens of a magnifying glass.
But I want to suggest a little different angle. I want to point to the idea of the “fear of God” at the end of verse 7 and remind you that this phrase (“fear of God”) is used a lot in the Bible’s wisdom literature. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” is the wise man’s mantra. It means that we build even the practical, mundane aspects of our lives on a relationship where we expect guidance, direction, and intervention from God. We are in awe of God and responsive to God OR we are reduced to folly where nothing in our lives lasts or matters.
With that understanding, I don’t believe Qoheleth was implying that God was capricious in destroying the works of humanity or that God took any joy in this destruction. Rather, I think he looked upon God as destroying works of folly, dreams (goals?) and empty words (foolish promises or vows?) that are either dangerous or irrelevant to make way for what is valuable and relevant—that lifestyle built on the fear (awe!) of God.
I see God as the building inspector who is forced to condemn a building before it collapses on its tenants or requires a bridge to be rebuilt before it collapses and kills those traveling on it. I disagree with those commentators who see this passage and say that “It’s better not to try anything for/with God than to fail, because God will get you for that.” Such thinking puts God’s people on an impossible tightrope when God has a wonderful vista ahead of them.
I believe that this ancient wise man is saying that even in an environment or tradition where we think we’re safe, we need to “take care” and make sure we’re listening to God and striving to find God’s will, God’s direction, and God’s strength to do what we’re called to do. Even religion, faith, service, and worship can become folly if we don’t “take care” and stay focused on God.
I’m very concerned that we, particularly as Baptists, have lost our focus. It seems that we have generated a lot of activity, a lot of noise, and a lot of numbers, but it isn’t clear that there’s a lot of “fear” (awe) of God in what we do. It seems like there are a lot of empty words, empty dreams, and empty activities. Does that mean God is going to have to take the wrecking ball to our denomination and to many of our churches? I would like to hope that isn’t what it means, but without that commitment to “take care,” I’m afraid that some of us are going to fail inspection. So, whatever you do—this week and with the rest of your life—“take care!” “Be careful” for the glory of God.
